Boys in Photograph still underdeveloped: critics

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This article was published 29/09/2009 (5878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO critics panned The Boys in the Photograph as not a very pretty picture.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber/Ben Elton musical, which premiered at the Manitoba Theatre Centre last April, opened at the Royal Alexandra Theatre Friday night to disparaging reviews. The remake of the 2000 musical The Beautiful Game is lacklustre, said the Toronto Star‘s Richard Ouzounian in his two-star (out of four) review. He called it less successful than the original, "which is some sort of dubious achievement."

John Coulbourn of the Toronto Sun gave it a two-and-a-half stars (out of five) and agreed it could all use another trip to the drawing board.

Even the Globe and Mail‘s J. Kelly Nestruck, who liked The Boys after what he saw at the MTC opening, recanted in an apologetic review that began with "Dear Winnipeg" and asked city theatre-goers for their forgiveness. "If you went to see it on my recommendation and were disappointed, I am truly sorry," he wrote.

After giving The Boys three out of four stars last spring, he slashed his rating in half for the Toronto production, which again stars Tony Lepage, Erica Peck and Richard McMillan. Nestruck was particularly unimpressed with Elton’s direction.

"The biggest mistake, however, is the inclusion of poorly Photoshopped photos of the boys, on the soccer pitch," he wrote. "Every time something sad or solemn happens to one of the characters, a goofy picture of him is projected on the set. This device deflates every potentially moving moment."

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